Oral Histories

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy is the nation’s first three year public residential institution for high school age students academically talented in science, mathematics, and technology. IMSA opened its doors to students in 1986, graduating the charter class in 1989. These conversations with alumni, former as well as, current faculty and staff explore the school’s history and what it meant to be a part of it. The pages linked below lead to video recordings, synopses, and photographs of the interviewed subjects.

This series of IMSA Oral Histories was funded in part by a grant from the Hansen-Furnas Foundation. The project team included Jean Bigger (IMSA IRC), Dr. Sara Goek (class of 2006), Marti Guarin (IMSA librarian and archivist, 1986-2006), and Dr. Christian Nøkkentved (faculty emeritus, 1989-2013).
Reaching Out: Expanding the Presence of IMSA's Archives Final Report

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Christian Nøkkentved and Sara Goek

Christian Nokkentved and Sara Goek

Dr. Christian Nøkkentved - known to generations of IMSA students as Dr. Nok - started as a member of the history faculty 1988. He had finished his Ph.D. in History in 1985 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He visited IMSA and decided to apply for a job, attracted by the small class sizes and teaching he saw there. He had to learn to adapt to teaching in a more hands-on way and ... Read More
Robert Hernandez and Christian Nøkkentved

Robert Hernandez and Christian Nøkkentved

Dr. Robert Hernandez started his career at IMSA in Admissions. In February 1995 he got a call about a one-year position that had opened up for a coordinator of recruitment and retention for minority students. He came out to visit IMSA, liked what he saw, and was offered the position. He started in April 1995 and stayed for 25 years.

In Admissions, he spent the first three years traveling around the state to recruit ... Read More
Claiborne Skinner and Christian Nøkkentved

Claiborne Skinner and Christian Nøkkentved

Dr. Claiborne Skinner came to IMSA as a member of the history faculty in 1993. In preparation for his first classes, he says he wanted to make an impression, so he came up with activities, including historical re-enactments. A lesson on the American Revolutionary War involved two-dozen broom handles to serve as rifles for patriots and redcoats, while teaching democracy in Ancient Greece involved rowing across No Pond. At the time at least, Dr. ... Read More
Dr. José Torres and Dr. Christian Nøkkentved

José Torres and Christian Nøkkentved

Dr. Christian Nøkkentved interviews IMSA President, Dr. José Torres. He previously served as Superintendent for School District U-46 in Elgin and it was during his time there that he first learned about IMSA. He started looking at the opportunity to be President when it opened and was struck by the mission statement, the Standards of Significant Learning (SSLs), and the alumni. He thought it sounded like a good place with a good mission. He ... Read More
David Kinney, Amy (Timm) Kinney, Ravi Duvvuri, and Christian Nøkkentved

David Kinney '95, Amy Timm Kinney '95, Ravi Duvvuri '95, and Christian Nøkkentved

Three members of the class of 1995 look back on their IMSA experiences twenty years after they graduated. David Kinney says he applied to IMSA because he wanted to get out of the house. Amy (Timm) Kinney had grown up in the Chicago area before her family moved to southern Illinois, where she didn't feel she fit in and she wasn't challenged enough academically. Ravi Duvvuri grew up in central Illinois and likewise didn't ... Read More
Branson Lawrence and Christian Nøkkentved

Branson Lawrence and Christian Nøkkentved

Dr. Christian Nøkkentved interviews Branson Lawrence, former science faculty and principal, about his IMSA experience. He begins by discussing how he first came to teach at IMSA. He was a public school science teacher and started teaching at a IMSA's summer programs in 1989. When it was first suggested he apply for a faculty position, he was unenthusiastic, but with encouragement he came around, accepted a job offer, and started in the fall of ... Read More
Robert Roth, Brian Sebby, and Christian Nøkkentved

Robert Roth '95, Brian Sebby '95, and Christian Nøkkentved

Robert Roth, class of 1995, says he came to IMSA to try something new and get away from home, while Brian Sebby, class of 1996, came in order to have more opportunities than his school at home would have offered. They both recall making new friends soon after they arrived. In terms of extracurricular activities, Sebby remembers starting a Star Trek club. Roth played soccer, and later ultimate frisbee, and he sang in choir ... Read More
Stephanie Williams, Shirley Xiao, and Christian Nøkkentved

Stephanie Williams '10, Shirley Xiao '10, and Christian Nøkkentved

Two members of the class of 2010, Stephanie Williams and Shirley Xiao, reflect on why they came to IMSA. Williams says she was bored at her home school, and she had learned about IMSA through one of its outreach programs. Xiao says she knew many people in her peer group who had applied and then her mom encouraged her to apply. Williams's first impression of the school was being confused by the maze of ... Read More
Mamatha Challa, Melcolm Ruffin, Jen Byers, Vidya Govind, Opeyemi Kusoro, and John Stark

Mamatha Challa '09, Melcolm Ruffin '09, Jen Byers '09, Vidya Govind '09, Opeyemi Kusoro '09, and John Start

John Stark speaks to five members of the class of 2009. Ope Kusoro first learned about IMSA from a cousin who was two years older who came. Over the next couple years he came to summer programs before applying himself. Melcolm Ruffin had an older brother who attended as a member of the class of 1999 and he would visit. By his freshman year of high school he couldn't wait to come himself. Jennifer ... Read More
Emmaline Conover, Katherine Evans, and Christian Nøkkentved

Emmaline Conover '09, Katherine Evans '09, and Christian Nøkkentved

Emma Conover and Katie Evans are both members of the class of 2009. Conover knew about IMSA because her grandmother lived a couple blocks away and she would drive by with her parents. She grew up in a small rural town where she wasn't challenged in class, so she decided she wanted to attend IMSA. Evans grew up in Springfield where she also exceeded the capacity of her school to challenge her and she ... Read More
Gerrad Holtz, Daryl Shorter, and Christian Nøkkentved

Gerrad Holtz '94, Daryl Shorter '94, and Christian Nøkkentved

Gerrad Holtz first heard about IMSA in sixth grade when an older brother applied. He did a summer program and then decided to attend in high school because he'd have more opportunities at IMSA than the small town where he grew up offered. Daryl Shorter was in eighth grade when a few different boarding schools gave presentations to students at his school on the south side of Chicago, and he decided he wanted to ... Read More
Bethliz Irizarry, Jasmine Kwasa, Anisha Vyas, Troy Nelson, Ariel Liu, and John Stark

Bethliz Irizarry '09, Jasmine Kwasa '09, Anisha Vyas '09, Troy Nelson '09, Ariel Liu '09, and John Stark

Five members of IMSA's class of 2009 - friends and former roommates - speak with John Stark, former German teacher, at their five-year reunion. Bethliz Irizarry first visited IMSA while in middle school and then applied once she was in high school. The other four interviewees all came to IMSA as freshmen, or 'shmen. Jasmine Kwasa comes from the south side of Chicago and applied to IMSA at the same time as she was ... Read More
Sammy Nguyen, Akash Moradia, and Stephanie Pace Marshall

Sammy Nguyen '09, Akash Moradia '09, and Stephanie Pace Marshall

Two members of the class of 2009, Sammy Nguyen and Akash Moradia, were roommates while at IMSA. Nguyen describes IMSA like a family because of the close relationships developed between students living on campus, and also the closeness of students and faculty. Moradia feels IMSA offers a unique opportunity, also because of the residential life aspect. He also describes the experience as both unique and chaotic, because so much is expected of students.

Nguyen ... Read More
Elise Sivilay, Neil Rubin, and Christian Nøkkentved

Elise Sivilay '94, Neil Rubin '94, and Christian Nøkkentved

Asked why they came to IMSA, Sivilay says she came for the challenge, with support from her parents. Rubin says he liked math in school and wanted the opportunity to study things beyond what an ordinary high school would offer. He had done a summer program facilitated by a member of the charter class and particularly remembers her talking about astronomy and other things she'd learned at IMSA, which may have planted the idea ... Read More
Heather Taff, Kora Bongen, Garry Kennebrew, Jr., Amy Peterson, and John Stark

Heather Taff '04; Kora Bongen '04; Garry Kennebrew, Jr. '04; Amy Peterson '04; and John Stark

Four members of the class of 2004 speak to their experiences at IMSA in an interview recorded at their 10-year reunion. Heather Taff recalls that she heard about IMSA when her parents came home with information about it. Kora Bongen says her parents wanted to send her to boarding school and she said no, thinking they meant in England, only to later realize they actually meant IMSA. Garry Kennebrew, Jr. says he and his ... Read More
Dr. Leon Lederman, Gabriel Demombynes ’89, Jeffrey Truitt ’89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall

Leon Lederman, Gabriel Demombynes '89, Jeffrey Truitt '89, and Stephanie Pace Marshall

Dr. Leon Lederman, Gabriel Demombynes ’89, Jeffrey Truitt ’89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall discuss the early years of IMSA and the charter class experience. Dr. Pace Marshall asks Demombynes and Truitt to reflect on why and how they decided to come to IMSA as members of the charter class. They remember arriving before the dorms were built and their first impressions. The charter class played a formative role in the school, including choosing ... Read More
Dr. Leon Lederman, Brian Maier ’89, Kevin Schraith ’89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall

Leon Lederman, Brian Maier '89, Kevin Schraith '89, and Stephanie Pace Marhsall

Dr. Leon Lederman, Brian Maier '89, Kevin Schraith ’89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall discuss the early years of IMSA and the charter class experience. Dr. Lederman starts the conversation by asking what they did wrong at the beginning. Schraith says he thinks some of the things that weren't all figured out - the places where the "seams" showed - were the most memorable, they allowed for "valuable chaos". Dr. Pace Marshall asks Schraith ... Read More
Dr. Leon Lederman and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall: Part 1

Leon Lederman and Stephanie Pace Marshall

Dr. Leon Lederman and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall discuss the idea for a science and math school, the founding of IMSA, and the early years. Dr. Lederman begins by talking about the Saturday Morning Physics education program for kids at Fermilab. He knew that there were specialized schools elsewhere, particularly in New York City, and that may have given him the idea that Illinois could have one. He gave a talk about the idea ... Read More
Dr. Leon Lederman and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall: Part 2

Leon Lederman and Stephanie Pace Marshall

Dr. Leon Lederman and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall discuss the idea for a science and math school, the founding of IMSA, and the early years. The state governor at the time, Governor Thompson, was supportive of IMSA and helped them navigate the political landscape. Dr. Lederman discusses the potential impact that his winning the Nobel Prize in 1988 had. While IMSA was already in its third year by that point, it was helpful to ... Read More
Dr. Leon Lederman, Stephen Moore ’89, Jill Mitchell '89, Rebecca Arnal '89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall

Leon Lederman, Stephen Moore '89, Jill Mitchell '89, and Rebecca Arnal '89

Dr. Leon Lederman, Stephen Moore ’89, Jill Mitchell '89, Rebecca Arnal ’89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall discuss the early years of IMSA and the charter class experience. The alumni start by discussing how they first heard about IMSA and applied. Dr. Pace Marshall asks what they thought IMSA promised them. Dr. Lederman asks them what stands out in their memory, and all three alumni emphasize the excellent humanities classes and teachers and the ... Read More
Dr. Leon Lederman, Terri Willard ’89, David Kung '89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall

Leon Lederman, Terri Willard '89, David Kung '89, and Stephanie Pace Marshall

Dr. Leon Lederman, Terri Willard '89, David Kung ’89, and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall discuss the early years of IMSA and the charter class experience. Willard and Kung start by recalling how they decided to come to IMSA. Dr. Pace Marshall asks them about their earliest memories of the school. They remember the challenges of living away from home. Dr. Lederman asks them to reflect on their learning experiences. Experiential learning stands out for ... Read More